What to Know
- Frieda's Branded Produce unveiled the 2022 roasting dates for Ralph's and Food4Less
- Hatch green chile, from New Mexico, will be roasted on select August and September dates
- The spicy fruit, which boasts different heat levels, is used in a variety of dishes, include posole, enchiladas, and rellenos
How's the space in your icebox?
Is it full of ice, or have you used every cube to make a refreshing beverage even more refreshing on these toasty July afternoons?
Perhaps you've eaten all of the fruit pops, too, the ones you had stashed in the back of your freezer, and the ice cream sandwiches, too.
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In short: You've now got room, the sort of room that fans of a certain spicy fruit tend to make when August is about to start.
For when the hot but fall-adjacent month begins? The heat factor goes even higher, thanks to the arrival of the green chile roasters at our local grocery stores.
For we're now heading into Hatch chile season, when the flavorful pods arrive, truck by truck, from Southern New Mexico.
Southern California is where these green goodies are headed, but before they can be stored in local freezers, they must first be roasted, to bring out all of that Capsaicin-strong character.
Several local spots, like El Rey Farms, traditionally start taking orders in July, or if orders aren't yet in the works?
Companies will reveal where and when to go for your sack of roasted chiles.
Frieda's Branded Produce recently unveiled its 2022 Los Angeles roasting schedule, with scentful stops ahead for select Ralph's and Food4Less stores.
The Ralph's locations at 711 Weir Canyon Road in Anaheim and 2600 W. Victory Boulevard in Burbank are up first on the line-up, and you won't have to wait long: Saturday, Aug. 6 is the date, and pre-orders open on Monday, Aug. 1.
More Ralph's will join the piquant program later in the month, with Downey, Huntington Beach, and Pasadena all set take their tasty turn at turning the roasters.
A few Food4Less locations are also on the calendar, and the final date to get your chile from the Frieda's Branded Produce team?
It's Sept. 18, which is when the chile-roasting season usually concludes in Southern California, give or take a few days. (Think "mid-September" each year, is a good plan.)
The full list of all the stores and dates may be found here, as well as the pre-ordering dates, too.
Ready to fill that freezer shelf, the one that held all of the ice pops you ate last week, with roasted Hatch chile? The kind of chile that adds so much kick to the dishes we cook when colder weather arrives?
Start here, fans of zesty pods, bites with bite, and the sort of seedy celebs that tell us cooler days are on the way.
